January 13 / December 31

1. The Venerable Melania the Younger, nun, of Rome (439)

Melania was born in Rome of devout and very wealthy parents. She was forced by them to enter into marriage with a young nobleman, Apinianus. She became gravely ill in giving birth to her second child, and she told her husband that she would be healed only if he vowed before God to live with her in the future as a brother with a sister. Her husband vowed, and Melania, out of spiritual joy, was physically restored to health. When it was pleasing to God to take both of their children to Himself, they decided to sell all their possessions and distribute the proceeds to the poor, the churches, and the monasteries. They traveled through many lands and cities, doing good works everywhere with their wealth. They visited famous spiritual fathers in Upper and Lower Egypt, learned much, and were inspired by them. During that entire time, Melania lived an ascetic life of strict fasting, fervent prayer, and the reading of the Holy Scriptures. Melania had the custom of reading the entire book of the Holy Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, three times every year. She lived with her husband as with a brother and fellow-ascetic. Coming to Alexandria, they received the blessing of the Patriarch, St. Cyril. After that, they traveled to Jerusalem and settled on the Mount of Olives. There Melania closed her- self off and devoted herself to divine contemplation, fasting, and prayer. Thus, she lived for fourteen years, after which she came out to help others to salvation. She founded a monastery for men and a convent for women. At the invitation of her kinsman, Senator Volusian, a pagan, she went to Constantinople and converted him to the Christian Faith (which even Blessed Au- Augustine himself was unable to do). She then returned to the Mount of Olives, where she presented herself to God in the year 439 at the age of fifty-seven.

2.  The Holy and Righteous Joseph, King David, and James the Brother of the Lord

They are all commemorated on the Sunday after the Nativity of Christ. One can learn all about King David, the son of Jesse, in the Book of Kings, and for St. James see October 23. Joseph the Righteous is called in the Gospel a righteous man (Matthew 1:19), and because of this God designated him to protect the Most-holy Virgin and imparted to him great honor in the plan of the salvation of mankind. Although Joseph was of the royal lineage of David, he was a humble carpenter in Nazareth. At the age of eighty, he took to himself the Most-holy Virgin from the Temple in Jerusalem into his home. He entered into rest at the age of 110.

3. The Venerable Martyr Zoticus,

the Feeder of Orphans (Benefactor of the Poor)

Zoticus was eminent both in birth and in rank. He moved to Constantinople, rejected all worldly things, and received ordination to the priesthood. He founded a home for the poor, in which he housed those who had contagious diseases and ministered to them. He was a personal acquaintance of Emperor Constantine the Great. Because of the gold Zoticus had received from the emperor and had spent on the victims of disease, Constantine’s son Constantius had him tied to a wild ass, which was driven until St. Zoticus died of his wounds. He suffered in the fourth century.

4.  The Blessed Theophylactus, Archbishop of Ohrid (ca. 1126)

Theophylact was born on the island of Euripos and educated in Constantinople by the most eminent teachers of that time. As a priest of the Great Church, he was chosen bishop and sent, against his will, to Ohrid, where he remained about twenty-five years (from about 1082 to 1108). Chomatianus of Ohrid calls him “the wisest archbishop.” A man of enormous learning, both secular and theological, of refined Byzantine tastes, melancholy and sensitive, Theophylact felt among the Slavs in Ohrid like an exile among barbarians. He wrote commentaries on the Four Gospels and other books of the New Testament. These are the best works of their kind after that of St. Chrysostom, and are read even today with great benefit. His other known works include his Letters and the Life of St. Clement of Ohrid. In old age, St. Theophylact withdrew from Ohrid to Thessalonica, where it is thought he finished his earthly life and took up his habitation in blessed eternity.

• Anysius, bishop of Thessalonica (ca. 406).
• Gelasius, monk, of Palestine.
• Sabiana, abbess of Samtskhe Convent (11th c.).
• Cyriacus of Bisericani Monastery (Romania) (ca. 1650).
• Cyriacus of Tazlau Monastery (Romania) (ca. 1660).
• New Hiero-confessor Dositheus, metropolitan of Zagreb (1944).
• (Greek : Ten Virgin-martyrs of Nicomedia).

HYMN OF PRAISE

The Venerable Melania the Roman

The wealthy Melania possessed great gold.
She gave it to the poor,
for the sake of Christ and her salvation.
He who trades wisely receives great value from his gold,
And with it quickly purchases the Heavenly Kingdom.
Melania, a devout woman, became poor;
She possessed nothing in the world except
the Living God, And without gold—
but with the Living
God—she became wealthy. Melania said:
“God alone is enough!”
Melania the physician healed pains,
Praising God until her last breath.

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To read the Reflection, Contemplation, and Homily for this day,
you can purchase your copy of the Prologue of Ohrid at our St. Sebastian Bookstore
or download our Kindle E-Book version at Amazon.com.